Parrikar's kin file complaint against GSM for ‘defaming' CM

A relative of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has filed a complaint against activists of the Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) for allegedly defaming the CM and his family members during a protest here.

The Chief Minister's nephew, Akhil Parrikar, lodged a complaint on Sunday at the Agassaim police station in North Goa district, accusing GSM leader Hrudaynath Shirodkar and others of ‘defaming and maligning the image of Manohar Parrikar and his family members’.

Meanwhile, GSM workers also lodged a counter-complaint against BJP activists, including Akhil Parrikar, for manhandling and assaulting them during the protest yesterday near the venue of a meeting of BJP president Amit Shah.

The activists of GSM, a political party floated by a former RSS functionary, protested against Shah's reported statement at an election rally in Karnataka that he would ensure supply of the Mahadayi river water to farmers in the southern State, if the party was voted to power.

The CM's nephew, in his complaint, alleged that while he was proceeding towards the venue of Shah's meeting, the GSM activists stopped his car and threw a water bottle at his mother. He also accused the GSM supporters of manhandling him and his family while they were travelling in the car, and shouting slogans against the Chief Minister and the BJP that, he claimed, were intended to ‘defame and malign’ the CM's image.

In the cross-complaint filed at the same police station, the GSM workers alleged that Akhil Parrikar along with others stopped at the place where they were ‘peacefully demonstrating’ and hurled abuses at them. GSM general secretary Atmaram Gaonkar demanded action against those who disrupted the ‘peaceful demonstration’.

When contacted, a senior official at the Agassaim police station confirmed receiving both the complaints and said that an inquiry was on.

‘We have taken the statements of those named in the complaints,’ he added.

Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded the arrest of Akhil Parrikar for ‘taking law into his hands’.

‘We demand immediate arrest of Akhil for assaulting senior citizens and creating a law and order situation near the venue. Any other activist indulging in such activity should have been picked up immediately by Goa Police,’ said Congress's Goa unit spokesman Avinash Tavares.

He said Akhil Parrikar's ‘arrogant act’ of trying to bully the activists of the Goa Surakasha Manch (GSM) displays ‘immaturity and frustration’.